Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Wine & Latin Food: They Said It Would Never LastFine Wine and Latin Cuisine Converge at East LA Meets Napa – a Benefit for AltaMed Health Services Corporation

On Friday, July 09, 2010, from 6:00 to 9:00 PM, AltaMed Health Services will be hosting the Fifth Annual East LA Meets Napa celebration and it returns better than ever with an expanded courtyard in one of Los Angeles most historic settings – Union Station. This year, the event also presents some of Baja California’s best wineries to showcase wines from the Valle de Guadalupe region in commemoration of Mexico’s Bicentennial celebration. The event will feature the diversity of Los Angeles’ Latin cuisine and fine wine from Latino-owned or –operated Napa Wineries through 60 wine and food pairing stations.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

On Saturday, July 17, 2010, one of the largest and most celebrated food and wine events will be happening in Los Angeles. Currently in its 13th year, the Extravaganza for the Senses will be held at the Sunset Gower Studios benefiting The Saban Free Clinic.

This event will truly be a wonderful experience for your senses. Taste delicious offerings from 40 of the best restaurants in LA. Smell the bouquet from hundreds of wines, representing dozens of different California wineries. See feverish bidding on fabulous prizes during the silent auction. Hear the groove as a live DJ provides lively background music. Enjoy the cooking demonstrations from renowned Chef Suzanne Tracht and a previous contestant on Top Chef masters. While you're having a good time, you'll do so knowing that your money will be spent on behalf of the Saban Free Clinic.

Celebrating its 43rd Anniversary, the Clinic provides a full range of high-quality free medical, dental and social services to the homeless, the uninsured, the working poor, runaway and high-risk youth. This year, the Clinic will provide nearly 90,000 patient visits to the men, women and children who need them the most.

Friday, June 25, 2010

A few years ago, I heard about the Caribbean Treehouse, a restaurant that serves food from Trinidad and Tobago, but it wasn't until I saw a post on the Man Bites World blog that I saw pictures of any of the food itself. Although the descriptions sounded tasty, it still took me awhile to finally check it out for myself and when I did, I brought along a group of friends along, with one of them being Trini born and bred. I was definitely very interested in getting her take on her "home" food.

One thing to note about this restaurant is "Treehouse" is part of its name for a good reason. There's actually a tree in the dining room that goes through the roof of the restaurant. Now that's not something you see everyday.

For our meal, my group of friends shared 9 dishes. We started off with the beef and chicken pies, which were more like hand pies as opposed to being cooked in pie shells. The pastry was actually quite flaky, so that was the pro; however, the cons included beef that was a little too salty and chicken that was dry and under-seasoned. So far, this wasn't a good start to our dinner.

From meat pies, we went on to their rotis, one that was vegetarian (potato and green beans) and the other was filled with goat. They looked like giant burritos on the plate. Taste-wise, they were okay, not bad, not memorable, but definitely filling.

On the weekends, they serve a dish called the Sparrow Special and being there on a Saturday, of course we had try it out. The Sparrow Special is made up of strips of salt cod, boiled cassava, sauteed onion and tomato. This was actually one of the better tasting dishes of the night, but the boiled cassava was a little undercooked and was also lacking any kind of seasoning. Considering that the onions, fish and tomatoes were a great flavor combo, it was almost as if the cassava was cooked on its own and added to the dish later on.

Next to arrive was the Shrimp Curry, which was quite disappointing. The shrimp was overcooked and the curry, if there was any, was missing in action.

While the crab portion of the Crab Dumpling dish was at least fairly meaty and the sauce was tasty, the dumplings were simply horrible. I rarely use that word as a food descriptor because it's pretty harsh, but horrible is truly the best way to describe these dumplings that were so hard, they could have been used as hockey pucks.

So far, my Trini friend was less than impressed with our meal; however, the one dish that disappointed her the most was the stewed king fish. The fish on our plate wasn't stewed by any means. It was fried. Yes, fried. She described the dish as being comprised of all these ingredients that sounded really yummy. Unfortunately, I can't remember the ingredients she mentioned, but they were a far cry from the reality of what we had before us.

Our disappointing journey into food from my friend's country ended with an Oxtail Stew that was more bony than meaty with the meat itself being tough and chewy.

I was really excited to bring my Trini friend here and out of a score of 1 to 10, I was generous with 5 to 6. She felt she was generous with a score of 3. Ouch! Oh well, the only good thing that came out of this is her promise to prepare a home-cooked Trini meal for me so that I could really experience what her "home food" is all about. Hmmmm.....that reminds me. I need to give her a call and make sure she remembers her promise. :)

For those of you unfamiliar with this competition, it initially started shortly after the end of prohibition when the L.A. County Fair began awarding medals to the finest wines in California. Extra virgin olive oils, both domestic and international, were added as a category in 200 and in 2002, the competition opened its doors to wine entries from around the world. 2007 saw the inclusion of a spirits category as well. For 2010 alone, 16 countries were represented for a total of 3,169 entries. US led the pack with 2,298 entries followed by Canada and Italy, with 227 and 224 entries respectively.

The Competition also is the foundation for an extensive wine education program available to 1.4 million visitors at the L.A. County Fair at the Los Angeles Wine & Spirits Marketplace. Having begun public wine tasting in 1968, the Fair opened a wine education center in 1998, complete with consumer-driven classes, tastings and displays of the award-winning wines. With the L.A. International Wine & Spirits Competition committed to educating the public about wine, it features industry experts with extensive knowledge about wine growing and selection, wine tasting as well as wine and food pairings.

As mentioned, there will be Wine Education Seminars where each class will feature a minimum of 6 wines and each participant will receive a tasting ticket for a taste of a Gold Medal Winner at the International Tasting Bar. You'll also get to meet the leading authorities in the wine and olive oil business. The cost to participate is $170.00 per class. Updated information will be posted at this link as the dates get closer to the LA County Fair.

As for the Best of Show Winners, check out the list below. For a full list of winners, click here.BEST OF SHOW - LIMITED PRODUCTIONKiona Vineyards & Winery, Ice Wine - Chenin Blanc, jRed Mountain, 2008

BEST OF SHOW - WINE WORLD OF SPORTSLasorda, Chianti Classico, Tuscany DOCG, 2007

You can have up to 4 total entries each; however, please note that you have to comment back and let me know which of the actions you took, so that I can keep track of them. This is especially true for 2 through 4. If you don’t let me know which actions you took, then I won’t count them as entries.

Contest ends Thursday, July 1st at 11:59 AM, PST and a winner will be randomly chosen from all entries. Open only to California residents. Good Luck!

The Brie Toast with Chardonnay Soaked Raisins was our second appetizer, which seemed more like a dessert than an appetizer. It was a little sweet of a starter for my taste.

What I enjoyed the most was the Housemade Tapenade with Crostini, with three different tapenades on the plate, olive, tomato and wild mushroom. The tapenade wasn't too salty and the flavors of each of the focal ingredients really shown through, with the mushroom tapenade being my favorite.

As for the entrees, everyone choose either the lamb chops or the pasta for their main course. Although I'm not normally a pasta person, I went for the Spring Pasta with roasted garlic chicken, caramelized spring onions, pancetta, English peas, Roma tomatoes, parmesan and olive oil. It wasn't bad, but just a bit bland at times. It reminded me that usually the best place to order pasta is at an Italian restaurant.

I did have a couple of the lamb chops, which had a dijon herb crust, a port rosemary reduction and was served with roasted garlic and an Anaheim chili hummus and pita bread. One bite of the lamb chop and it made me happy that one of my dining partners was sharing it with me. The meat was juicy and I really liked the cheesy crust, something I've never had on a lamb chop before.

When it was time for dessert, two different ones from their tasting menu hit our table. Mine was the Chocolate Beignets with a Strawberry Sauce and Caramel. Considering that this restaurant is called Pop Champagne and Dessert Bar, I had high hopes for their dessert. I wouldn't say that these beignets were the best I've ever had, but they had a rich chocolateness to them that I liked.

What I ended up enjoying more was the Seasonal Pavlova, a French meringue topped with Chantilly cream and seasonal fresh fruit. It was nice and light and the fresh fruit were a nice end to the meal.

To end, considering that the name of the restaurant is all about dessert, I didn't know what to expect from having an actual meal there. Although there were a few minor bumps, I enjoyed what I had and while Pop Champagne isn't a destination a restaurant for me, I wouldn't turn down an invitation to return.

Except for occasional forays, Pasadena hasn't been a regular dining destination for me for awhile now, but after seeing Gourmet Pig's blog post about the June Old Town Pasadena Restaurant Week, I thought this would be a great chance to check out a couple new-to-me restaurants. With the prices running $25 to $35 for 3 course meals in selected restaurants, I would have been a fool not to. On the first day of this promotion, I took my dining group to Vertical Wine Bistro.

I really liked the ambiance of the space, but what really caught my eye was this ceiling structure that was like an art piece. It brought in natural light to the dining room, but I also enjoyed watching the colors change from white to blues and grays as the afternoon sun made way for evening.

Anyway, all poetry aside, our meal started with bread that came with this very addicting red pepper dip that was creamy and had a kick to it.

When it came to our appetizers, our table ordered all three that were available and I actually shared all my food with a friend so that we could both try twice as much. My particular appetizer was the Golden Baby Beet Salad with Laura Chenel's Chevre and a cumin vinaigrette. Since I love beets, it was a foregone conclusion that this was the appetizer that I was going to order, but what really interested me was the cumin vinaigrette dressing. That dressing was awesome. It was a bit nutty, a little peppery and just absolutely delicious. I wouldn't have minded taking a bottle home of that salad dressing.

I also enjoyed the Green Market Salad with watermelon radish, sunflower sprouts and the Meyer lemon vinaigrette. This is the first time I've ever had watermelon radish and was expecting it to have a little bite, but it was actually mild. I found out later on that it's related to the daikon radish as opposed to the red radishes. Overall, the salad was very fresh and the dressing added a nice hit of tartness.

Although I didn't try the Tomato Fennel Soup, it was apparently well liked and below you can see a photo of it.

As for the entrees, everyone in our group opted for either the cod or the short ribs. I went straight for the Black Cod which was oven roasted and served with salsify, haricot vert, corn, tomato and a lobster peppercorn jus. As soon as I saw my fish, I already saw one thing that was spot on. Simply, the skin looked crispy and it also tasted crispy. I've been to too many a restaurant where the fish skin is just wasted. The fish itself was absolutely lovely. It was moist and delicate and how can you go wrong with a lobster peppercorn jus?

I also got to sample the Braised Short Ribs with sautéed swiss chard, heirloom carrots and tatziki. Those short ribs were meltingly tender. No knife was needed or wanted. My fork did all the work and every bite was delicious.

Finally, it was dessert time and again, the table opted for 2 of the 3 available desserts. I went for the Panna Cotta with Kumquats and Kaffir and I'm glad I did. The panna cotta was rich and creamy and I really the tart flavors the kumquats added to this dessert.

The other dessert was the Decadent Cake with Hazelnut Gelato. This dessert was the only disappointing part of the meal. Maybe, my idea of decadence is on a different plane, but I didn't get what was so decadent about this cake. It actually tasted like a brownie that was a bit on the dry side, with the gelato adding the needed moisture.

Overall, this first visit to Vertical Wine Bistro was a hit. Although the service was a bit on the slow side at times and the music seemed a little too rock and roll for the ambiance, the food was very good and I look forward to a return visit to check out more of the menu.

About Me

I'm a Dining Group Organizer and Food Blogger who has a passion for all things tasty and absolutely loves setting up culinary outings all over LA! If you'd like to contact me, my email address is abby@pleasurepalate.com.